Egg-free gumdrop cookies

This recipe was a childhood Christmas classic. We didn’t think twice about candy in cookies, because Mom also made an orange-slice cake every year.

I’d forgotten about it for ages until a friend wondered last year what to do with gumdrops left over from decorating gingerbread houses. Do I have a deal for you, I said!

I ran into the same issue this year, after I lost my mind and bought two pounds of gumdrops to decorate four tiny cookie Christmas trees. Even after I weeded out the disgusting licorice and clove ones, wondering all the while why I didn’t just buy a bag of green and red, I had a heap of gumdrops left.

So I took my own advice and made cookies.

I used a slightly different egg-replacement method this time, substituting all water instead of additional fat. I figured the cup of shortening the recipe already called for would be enough. I’m glad I tried it this way, too, because the result was a nice, crisp cookie I’d been unable to achieve so far with egg-free baking. I’m going to remember this trick.

I also fell in love with my melon scoop. It makes the prettiest, most consistent drop cookies on Earth.

I used kitchen shears to chop the gumdrops. You might have to pause half-way and degunk the scissors, though.

Cream sugar, shortening, egg replacer (or eggs) and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Add gumdrops — make sure you break up the bigger clumps as you add them. The mixer will take care of the rest. Scoop dough onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 13 to 14 minutes. Mine took 17 minutes on AirBake sheets. Remove from sheet immediately or the gumdrops will stick. The cookies are a little soft out of the oven, so be careful. And they’ll crisp up as they cool.

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Except on pancakes, where I think Bob’s Red Mill makes them fluffier, I haven’t noticed much difference. Oh, and the smell of Bob’s Red Mill isn’t nearly as chemically-annoying as Ener-G egg. Bob’s Red Mill is a little harder to mix, though. It tends to lump more. And it’s slightly more expensive per “egg replacement.”

Bob’s also contains wheat gluten, soy and corn, so it wouldn’t be suitable for some folks dealing with multiple allergies.

They’re pretty much interchangeable performance-wise as far as I’m concerned. I’m gravitating more toward Bob’s of late, though, because the one local source I had for Ener-G egg quit stocking it, but I still can find Bob’s in two grocery stores.

I like to include the specific replacer I used on my recipes on the off chance there would be a difference in performance. Though, like I said, I haven’t run into one so far.